Heart Lighter and Game Honed, Point Guard Leads the Liberty

The pass found Leilani Mitchell deep in the right corner, and she drilled the 3-pointer. Mitchell dribbled along the left sideline, spotted Nicole Powell cutting to the basket on the opposite side and fired a perfect lead feed. Cappie Pondexter made a crosscourt fling to Mitchell on the left wing, and 3 more points swished through the Liberty’s net.

The contrast with last year was stark again on Thursday in the Liberty’s victory over Tulsa at Madison Square Garden. The Liberty had a poor 2009, and so, admittedly, did Mitchell as a reserve point guard in her second W.N.B.A. season. But she found it hard playing basketball with a broken heart. Her mother had died at 53. Mitchell was lost in grief, washed away in a sea of tears.

“Sometimes you want to call her and talk to her, give her a hug,” Mitchell said. “It’s something I have to deal with the rest of my life. Getting over that, it took me six to eight months to stop crying every day.”

Now, with more time to adjust, a more polished game and more confidence, Mitchell has made her third season a breakout year. She is the league’s leading 3-point shooter, at 47.9 percent, and the starting 5-foot-5 floor leader for its hottest second-half team.

The team has finally come together. The Liberty was riding a franchise-record 10-game winning streak until Friday’s 75-74 loss at Washington. It is on a 14-3 run since the All-Star break and has tied the franchise’s season record for victories, standing at 21-12 and in a three-way tie for first with Washington and Indiana in the Eastern Conference with one regular-season game to go, Sunday’s home date with Connecticut.

The marquee newcomers — Pondexter, Powell and Taj McWilliams-Franklin — have all done their part, and so has Mitchell. She has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 15 games, ranks second in the W.N.B.A. in 3-pointers made with 69 and is averaging 9.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals. She has turned herself into a worthy candidate for the W.N.B.A.’s award for most improved player.

“I don’t think there’s any competition at all,” Coach Anne Donovan said. “To run a team, to run a very successful team that’s competing for a conference title, just speaks volumes for a kid who came off the bench for limited minutes last year.”

Photo

Leilani Mitchell of the Liberty releasing a floater against the Indiana Fever at Madison Square Garden. Starting at point guard, Mitchell leads the league in 3-point shooting, at 47.9 percent.Credit
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

As a rookie, Mitchell flashed some promise. But she averaged just 12.8 minutes and 2.4 points last season.

Her mother, Eleanor Majid, had breast cancer for almost two years, and it spread to her liver. In March 2009, she was gone.

“It was the hardest thing I’d ever been through in my life,” said Mitchell, who was 23 when her mother died. “Last year, emotionally, mentally, I wasn’t here. I was just really struggling with the loss of my mom. It was hard to focus on games or even make them feel like they were important when you lose the person you’re closest to, your mom.”

Mitchell grew up in a house of eight, in Kennewick, Wash., with a basketball hoop in the driveway. Her father, Dennis Mitchell, worked at the local power plant. Her mother did some in-home nursing for family friends and looked after the children — five boys and one girl.

“I loved it,” Mitchell said. “I was always a tomgirl playing sports. That’s what got me interested in playing basketball. We were always outside playing.”

After starting for three years at Idaho and becoming a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation’s top collegiate point guard, she transferred to Utah, seeking a new challenge and hoping to play in the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Her wish was granted, although Utah bowed out in the first round. She averaged 16.8 points and 7.5 assists, then went as the 25th overall pick to Phoenix in the 2008 draft. During that preseason, the Liberty sent a 2009 third-round pick to the Mercury to bring her to Manhattan.

Photo

Mitchell’s breakout season has helped the Liberty equal the franchise record for victories.Credit
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Mitchell did not want to come east.

“I’m a West Coast girl,” she said. “But once I got here, I really enjoyed the team. They made me feel comfortable.”

When last year’s uncomfortable season ended, Donovan conducted exit interviews. Mitchell asked what she had to do to become a significant player. Donovan told her that because of her size, she had to turn scrappy and be like a gnat on defense. Donovan also mentioned being more aggressive offensively and sprucing up her 3-point touch.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

So Mitchell went to work on all that with Asptt Arras, her team in France. It practiced twice a day, so she got to fire plenty of shots. Still, Donovan did not know what to expect.

“Lei had to prove to everybody she was ready to lead a team and take the reins of the point-guard spot, including to Cappie,” Donovan said.

Pondexter, the shooting star who is second in the league at 21.2 points per game, saw the proof. Donovan sees them as a backcourt tandem for years to come.

“She’s a great point guard,” Pondexter said. “She knows when to make the right calls. She can shoot and handle the ball. She belongs here. I love playing with her.”

Another teammate, Essence Carson, described Mitchell now as “a happy spirit.” The playoffs tip off this week, and nothing would make Mitchell happier than helping the Liberty claim its first title.

“Everybody wants to win a championship,” Mitchell said. “Being able to contribute to that would be a dream come true.”

A version of this article appears in print on August 22, 2010, on Page SP9 of the New York edition with the headline: Heart Lighter and Game Honed, Point Guard Leads the Liberty. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe